


A Promise Between Teacher and Student

by MadHatterLilith



Series: Love [3]
Category: Gintama
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Teacher-Student Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-26 23:07:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21857122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadHatterLilith/pseuds/MadHatterLilith
Summary: It was an odd change, having someone warm and alive by his side. It felt odd to have someone carry him on third back, to care for him when he wasn't well. It was odd to trade words with someone. It was odd to laugh, get angry, and odd to look forward to the next day.To Gintoki, Shouyou was more than just his teacher, he was like a father.
Relationships: Sakata Gintoki & Yoshida Shouyou
Series: Love [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1574143
Comments: 3
Kudos: 39





	A Promise Between Teacher and Student

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry in advance, it's been a while since I watched these scenes in the  
> anime.

His life had been this way for as long as he could remember; survival was all that mattered. Why? He didn't know. All he knew was how to live, how to protect himself, and how to find food to fill his stomach. Food wasn't too hard to find, even on a battlefield, if you weren't to mindful of what you were eating.

He never had much of a chance to talk to people then, but he wasn't exactly alone. Crows, vultures, and all kinds of scavengers like him swarmed around this place. They picked at the bodies no one would come to claim, leaving scraps and not quite clean bones after they had their fill.

He liked to watch them fly, in the late afternoon black wings against the orange sky and setting sun.

That was his life then, before that man approached him. That was the only way he knew how to live: among the dead.

It was an odd change, having someone warm and alive by his side. It felt odd to have someone carry him on third back, to care for him when he wasn't well. It was odd to trade words with someone. It was odd to laugh, get angry, and odd to look forward to the next day.

But soon the "oddness" of it disappeared and it simply became just a normal life for him.

Dozing off in classes became normal, bickering with Takasugi became an everyday chore, and telling Zura to stop making onigiri was his normal everyday. (So was being beaten in a match by his teacher, but that'd change soon, he swore!)

He never thought those days would end. He never thought he would lose the normal, everyday happiness he finally found. He never thought he'd claw his way out of hell, only to be thrown back.

He didn't care about the amanto or the war. He couldn't give a damn about the government or the world. None of them did! All that mattered was reclaiming who they'd lost, taking back the person they all loved more than anyone, the only person who cared about a bunch of worthless kids like them.

So why did it have to end like this, he wondered. Why was this they only way to protect all he had left?

He could hear the others, bound on the ground, struggling with the ropes, hoping they might make it in time.He knew they wouldn't. There was no stopping this now.

Gintoki wasn't the only one who'd accepted this cruel reality. Shouyou looked at him, with eyes as kind as always as Gintoki raised his blade. He understood and accepted his fate. He didn't try to resist or blame Gintoki for his betrayal. He understood that this what had to happen and why. And so his last words to Gintoki weren't ones of hatred; they were words of gratitude.I

_"Thank you."_

And then it was done.

Takasugi, still bound, charged at him. He could hear the yelling, but it was so distant. The world was miles away.

Years later, Takasugi's screams, Shouyou's warm eyes and forgiving smile, the dull sound as his head hit the ground...they would haunt his dreams. Years later, the other students of that school would go their own ways. Nothing would ever be the same, and they'd never be able to go back to those days.

But in that moment, all Gintoki could think was that he fufilled his promise. He made sure everyone survived.

All it cost was the life of the man they were fighting to save. All it cost was the life of the man they loved as a teacher and a father.

**Author's Note:**

> This feels like it sorta fell apart at the end so I might go back and rewrite it later.


End file.
